Bob Gates: U.S. has no Middle East strategy 'at all'

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that when it comes to the Middle East, he does not think the United States has a strategy “at all.”

“We’re basically sort of playing this day to day,” Gates said in a discussion on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I think our interests remain important in the Middle East.”

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Gates said that during his “several decades” in the Situation Room, oil was never the reason for an invasion of the region. Early on, he said, the Soviet Union proved the impetus, and later it was Iran.

“I think our interests are enduring, but I certainly don’t think we have a strategy,” the former defense secretary and CIA director said, adding that if Iraq begins to fall apart, Iran would only be emboldened in the region, noting concerns about unintended consequences of an independent Kurdistan, for example.

Gates mentioned Turkey as one particular regional ally whose relations have frayed with the U.S. in recent years.

“My own view is, you don’t walk away from the people that you’ve counted as your friends and allies for several decades. The question is, how should those relationships evolve?” he asked.

Turning away from Turkey “would be a serious mistake,” given its role in NATO, he said.

Gates also touched upon the stir over presidential hopeful Jeb Bush’s answers to the question over whether he would invade Iraq given the information that is known now.

Bush “made a mistake” answering that question, Gates said, but added that getting into hypothetical situations is not productive.

“The right answer,” Gates said, is evaluating the lessons from the mistakes that were made when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. “One of those lessons is, it seems to me, we overestimate our ability to shape events there.”

Gates also broached the importance of keeping Asian allies close with regard to China and its territorial claim in the Senkaku Islands.

“I think we’ve made some good moves, but I think when it comes to the South China Sea, we need to do more with our allies,” he said.